Yisrael Mendel Kaplan
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Israel Mendel Kaplan or Yisrael Mendel Kaplan (April 14, 1913 – April 4, 1985), known as "Reb Mendel" served as a teacher in the Hebrew Theological College
Hebrew Theological College
The Hebrew Theological College, known as "Skokie Yeshiva," is a Yeshiva in Skokie, Illinois which also functions as a private university on campus. The primary focus of the Yeshiva is to teach Torah and Jewish traditions...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and in the Philadelphia Yeshiva
Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
The Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, known as "Philly", is a Haredi Litvish yeshiva. Its roshei yeshiva are Rabbi Elya Svei, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rabbi Yehudah Svei and Rabbi Sholom Kaminetsky...
to many of the men who were to become the leaders of Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
American Jewry.
Early life
Yisrael Mendel Kaplan was born in 1913 in Baranovich, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(now Baranowicze, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
) to Avraham and Esther Kaplan. Avraham was a lawyer and Esther was involved in community service: Raising funds for the Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
, feeding the poor and so forth.
After his bar mitzva, he was enrolled in the yeshiva of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman
Elchonon Wasserman
Elchonon Wasserman was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva in pre-World War II Europe. He was one of the Chofetz Chaim's closest disciples and a noted Torah scholar.-Biography:...
. He was considered a very promising student and was assigned Wasserman's son, Naftali, as a study partner. He later studied in the Mir yeshiva
Mir yeshiva (Poland)
The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Haredi yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Russian Empire...
as well.
Marriage and children
While studying in Mir, he married Sarah Baila Gutman (b. Navahrudak, 1910 - d. New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, March 12, 2008 ), the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Gutman, the administrator of the yeshiva in Baranowicze. When Rabbi Gutman was looking for a match, he asked Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman about a number of prospects. Rabbi Wasserman recommended Kaplan. When Rabbi Gutman pressed him "Isn't your own son, Naftoli, a little better?" Rabbi Wasserman answered "My Naftoli is a good boy, but he doesn't measure up to Mendel." (Greenwald 1995:31)
- Rabbi Yerucham Kaplan
- Tzirel, Wife of Rabbi Haim Benoliel.
- Rachel, Wife of Rabbi David Lopian.
- Esther Hutner (birthdate ) Wife of Rabbi Shaul Hutner.
- Chaim Ozer Kaplan (birthdate – c.1942) Died in Shanghai.
- Shimon Kaplan
Escape from the Nazis
In late 1939, the German's Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
overtook Poland and the Jews of Baranovich fled for their lives. Wasserman advised his yeshiva students to regroup in then-independent Vilna
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Lithuania. Kaplan and his family moved there and Kaplan studied there under Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik
Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik
Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik , also known as Velvel Soloveitchik or as the Brisker Rov Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (Hebrew: יצחק זאב הלוי סולובייצ'יק), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish) or as the Brisker...
. In June 1940, when the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
occupied Vilna, Jewish life became unbearable. Like the members of the Mir yeshiva
Mir yeshiva
Mir Yeshiva or Mirrer Yeshiva may refer to:* Mir yeshiva * Mir yeshiva * Mir yeshiva...
and other refugees there, Kaplan sought visas to allow him to escape Nazi and Soviet rule. He obtained a de facto destination visa from the Dutch consul
Jan Zwartendijk
Jan Zwartendijk was a Dutch businessman and diplomat who helped Jews escape Lithuania during World War II.Zwartendijk directed the Philips plants in Lithuania. On June 19, 1940, he was also a part-time an acting consul of the Netherlands - or, to be exact, of the Dutch government-in-exile...
but was unable to obtain the necessary transit visa from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Vice-consul, Chiune Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara
was a Japanese diplomat who served as Vice-Consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. During World War II, he helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan. Most of the Jews who escaped were refugees from...
that would allow his family to detour through Japan while awaiting some final, true destination. (Greenwald 1995:38)
The family nevertheless boarded the trains to the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n port city of Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
. His son, Chaim Ozer, was born on the train ride. After entering Japanese territory by boat, Kaplan expected deportation back to Russia and eventually Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Japanese officials goaded him to produce any kind of visa and he reluctantly showed them an obviously tampered Japanese transit visa. Inexplicably, it was stamped and accepted and the family continued on to Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
and then later to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. (Greenwald 1995:39-40)
His son Shimon was born in Shanghai, while his middle son, Chaim Ozer grew sick and died there.
Chicago
Kaplan arrived in America after the war and moved to ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where his brother, Rabbi Hertzl Kaplan was teaching at the Chicago yeshiva that was to become the Hebrew Theological College
Hebrew Theological College
The Hebrew Theological College, known as "Skokie Yeshiva," is a Yeshiva in Skokie, Illinois which also functions as a private university on campus. The primary focus of the Yeshiva is to teach Torah and Jewish traditions...
. Rabbi Israel Mendel Kaplan accepted a teaching position there, though his students were English-speaking and his English was not yet mastered. He won the students over by offering to "teach them to read the Chicago Tribune if they taught him to read English." His insights into world affairs and reading between the lines of the daily paper (even while needing help with the language) earned him his student's respect. (Greenwald 1995:44)
When his girls were old enough for high school, his wife moved with them to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
New York, so they could attend a Jewish girls high school in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
. Kaplan started Kaplan's Winery Corporation, producing traditional Kosher Concord
Concord grape
Concord grapes are a cultivar derived from the grape species Vitis labrusca which are used as table grapes, wine grapes and juice grapes....
wine, in an effort to supplement his income to cover his daughter's tuition costs. (Greenwald 1995:47)
Philadelphia
By 1965, Kaplan had joined his family in New York and was invited to started teaching the first-level post-high school class in the Talmudical Yeshiva of PhiladelphiaTalmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
The Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, known as "Philly", is a Haredi Litvish yeshiva. Its roshei yeshiva are Rabbi Elya Svei, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rabbi Yehudah Svei and Rabbi Sholom Kaminetsky...
. He accepted the position, lived in the dormitory and commuted each weekend to his wife and family in Brooklyn. He stayed at the school and taught the same level until his death on April 4, 1985. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky
Yaakov Kamenetsky
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky , was a prominent rosh yeshiva, posek and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community....
commented "Ahzah Kuntz, (What a feat!) He is greater than famous Roshei Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
, and he can still work quietly under younger men." (Greenwald 1995:48-49)
Works
- Nesivei Yam ("Paths of the Sea") - containing novellae on the tractate Kiddushin (2005).